Kenyan protesters are missing following tax hike demonstrations, rights group says

Transcript

SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:

Now to Kenya, where young people have been in the streets protesting against tax hikes. Nearly a month later, the protesters are calling for the resignation of President William Ruto. He's a U.S. ally. And some of the protests have turned violent. Nearly 50 people have been killed and more are missing. Emmanuel Igunza sent us this report from Nairobi.

TABITHA WANJIRU: (Crying).

EMMANUEL IGUNZA, BYLINE: It's been nearly a month since Tabitha Wanjiru last spoke to her son, Joseph Kairu. In that time, she's been to numerous police stations, hospitals and even morgues, trying to find him or any clue of his whereabouts.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing in non-English language).

IGUNZA: Neighbors gather at her home in Juja - just on the outskirts of Nairobi - trying to comfort and distract her. The last time anyone saw the 29-year-old Kairu was as he joined anti-tax protests in the capital, Nairobi.

WANJIRU: (Non-English language spoken).

IGUNZA: "I have done everything," she says, "gone everywhere I can think of looking for him."

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Singing in non-English language).

IGUNZA: Since June 18, thousands of predominantly young Kenyans have marched in cities and towns, protesting against a proposed tax bill that has since been shelved. At the height of the demonstrations, Parliament was stormed and some of its buildings set on fire. In the days that followed, hundreds were arrested and interrogated for hours and then released. Others were charged in court, while, according to Kenya's National Commission on Human Rights, nearly 60 protesters like Kairu remain missing or have been abducted by police.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Singing in non-English language).

IGUNZA: Among them was 29-year-old activist Paul Mwangi, who was picked up by police from his house on June 29.

(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSION)

IGUNZA: He was beaten for hours before being released.

PAUL MWANGI: I'm trying to learn and how to cope about everything.

IGUNZA: These protests have been led by the youth, calling themselves the Gen Z - young, tech-savvy, but also hungry for reforms in Kenya. They have used social media platforms to mobilize, often livestreaming these demonstrations online, completely changing political activism in the country. Despite his experience, Mwangi remains defiant.

MWANGI: I've gone through the worst. The only thing we can say, you know, maybe death. That's the only thing that I can say that is remaining.

IGUNZA: I'm out here in the streets of the capital...

(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSION)

IGUNZA: ...Where hundreds of protesters are once again out in the streets marching. Some of them are waving the national flag - miniature flags. Some of them are wearing headscarves and bandanas bearing the colors of the flag. They're singing songs, mocking the president, asking him to resign. But more importantly, they are saying that they want justice for those people who have been killed, that they want police to reveal the whereabouts of dozens who are still missing, and they're just relentless. Despite the police lobbing tear gas to them, they say they will not leave until their demands are met.

The president has made concessions - shelving the original tax proposals that sparked the protests, sacking his entire cabinet. The chief of police even resigned, but still the protests continue, and so do the abductions.

IRUNGU HOUGHTON: Policing has to be carried out within the rule of law, and it has to give the rights of the arrested - their full protection.

IGUNZA: Amnesty International's executive director, Irungu Houghton, warns that police handling of the protest risks taking Kenya back to the darkest days of then leader Daniel arap Moi in the '80s and '90s.

HOUGHTON: Thirty-four years later, we can't have a National Police Service that is abducting people in the middle of the night - taking them from outside of churches as they go to pray.

IGUNZA: It's an appeal that Tabitha Wanjiru hopes the police will heed as she goes to court to compel the police to fully investigate her son's disappearance.

WANJIRU: (Non-English language spoken).

IGUNZA: "I am asking you, Joseph Mwangi Kairu, wherever you are, please come home if you can, "she sobs. "If there's anyone detaining my son, please release him. Let my son go."

For NPR News, I'm Emmanuel Igunza in Nairobi, Kenya.

(SOUNDBITE OF TIM SCHAUFERT'S "JOURNEY") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.